This invention relates generally to railroad safety devices and more particularly relates to restraining rail for maintaining railroad car wheels on the track in a potentially hazardous area.
The potential danger of derailment of trains in well known and precautions such as warning signs for hazardous areas are often use because of this. There have been numerous devices proposed such as devices which grip the wheel bearing flange on the track, but they have not been widely accepted because of the necessity of redesigning already existing railroad cars and their wheels. Therefore it would be advantageous if a safety device could be provided which would provide a margin of safety without modifying existing equipment. Of course, restraining rails of one type or another are not unknown but the difficulty of maintaining them at a useful spacing has always been a problem.
The present invention solves this problem by providing a mounting in which the spacing between the restraining rail and the track can be kept substantially constant through all types of expansions and contractions of the restraining rail rail and track. The restraining rail mounting assembly described herein is comprised of a restraining rail support which permits an ordinary railroad track to be used as a restraining rail by supporting it on its side. The web of the railroad track is firmly secured to a tongue portion of the restraining rail support with a vertically extending abutment or foot firmly bracing the base flange of the railroad track. The restraining rail mounting bracket is provided with a serrated adjusting base which permits the spacing between the restraining rail and track to be accurately set. In addition, a support plate embedded in the concrete pedestal for the restraining rail assembly has obliquely angled slots to compensate for longitudinal forces such as expansion and contraction of the restraining rail to prevent it from affecting the preset spacing.
It is one objecct of the present invention to provide a restraining rail mounting assembly which permits an ordinary railroad track to be used for the restraining rail.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a restraining rail mounting assembly which permits accurate adjustment of the spacing between the restraining rail and the track.
Yet another object of the present invention is a restraining rail mounting assembly which maintains the proper spacing through flucuations and expansions.